It's all on sale!

I was at Ace Hardware to buy a floodlight anyway, so I figured I'd stop in QFC (grocery store under the Kroger's umbrella) next door and pick up bananas. But as I approached the store, I noticed it looked fairly empty. A sign on the automatic doors read, "Closing January 22. Everything 30-40% off."

Ah. Ah, crap.

I went outside and grabbed a big shopping cart and proceeded to spend the next hour going methodically through the store, aisle by half-empty aisle. I started with a couple of small succulent plants that will do well in the living room window, and ended at the marinated artichoke hearts on an endcap by the booze. Lately I've found you can never have enough artichokes. (I recently found an excellent artichoke chicken recipe.)

I found bacon, cheese, canned goods, spices (including bacon salt), bbq sauce, an ice scraper, batteries -- about halfway through the store a feeling came over me. Complete excitement! I could buy all of these things but it wouldn't be smart to load up on stuff I wouldn't use. So I carefully examined each expiration date and tried not to be impulsive.

It reminded me of that old show "Supermarket Sweep" where contestants only had a few minutes to grab the most expensive items in the store.

This was my personal game show.

On my way out, I asked the checker why they were closing and she said it was because of theft. Their location loses too much money, which unfortunately, is not surprising. I've heard other people and businesses in that area have had similar problems.

Overall I saved 35% of my bill and now I'm restraining myself from going back. There's no recapturing that initial thrill. Unless... maybe there's some funky new spice I've always wanted to try? Or another succulent to adopt?

Be strong, Christy. Be strong.

And you know I never did get those bananas.

For Seattleites, this QFC is on Lake City Way over by 125th. Hours are 9am to 9pm through January 22.